PARIS — European Union member states expressed interest in at least €127 billion ($146 billion) in EU-backed loans to pay for defense procurement, the bloc’s executive arm said on Wednesday.
Eighteen countries including Italy, Poland, Spain and France expressed interest in accessing the loans under the Security Action for Europe financial instrument, or SAFE, the European Commission said in a statement.
SAFE is part of EU plans to ramp up defense investment announced in March, and will provide up to €150 billion in “competitively priced,” long-maturity loans to EU countries that ask for financial assistance to invest in defense capabilities, according to the Commission.
“Delighted to see big interest of EU member states in SAFE loans,” EU Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius said in a social media post. “This is a major step towards achieving our defense goals quickly and decisively.”
The Commission said the early indication of interest will allow it to assess demand and prepare for raising funds on the capital markets. The deadline for formal submission of requests and the submission of national defense investment plans is end-November.
The loans seek to finance “urgent and large-scale procurement efforts,” according to the Commission. Projects will be based on common procurement, involving at least one member state that benefits from SAFE, together with another member state, Ukraine or the EEA-EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
“However, in light of current geopolitical realities, SAFE will also temporarily support procurements by individual member states to ensure timely delivery of critical assets,” the commission said.
Only EU countries can obtain SAFE loans, though countries that have signed security and defense partnerships with the EU can participate in common procurement, including the United Kingdom, Norway, Canada, South Korea and Japan.
Under the eligibility conditions for SAFE loans, procurement contracts have to ensure that no more than 35% of component costs comes from outside the EU, Ukraine or EEA-EFTA countries.
For equipment including air and missile defense systems, maritime surface and underwater capabilities and strategic enablers such as air-to-air refueling, eligibility conditions for procurement contracts are more strict, including the ability for contractors to modify the equipment if necessary, without any non-EU restrictions.